Board of Advisors: A Useful Tool for You to Drive Your Company Forward

Accountability - you, as the leader of your Organization, can hold others to a certain standard that the business requires, but how do you do the same for yourself? Well, over the last 30 years of advising clients like you, I see the best way for the new start-up to drive a strategic plan forward is to use a board of advisors.

A board of advisors is informal, and not a legal corporate board (which you should have I would argue also!), but one that you can surround yourself with good business people from a variety of backgrounds to keep you on task. Their mission is to meet with you (many meet quarterly) to review accomplishments and new developments and help you drive the business to the next level. Their practical experience tends to allow you lean to on them to expediently make wise decisions.

Why do members step up? Most likely they may believe in either the business model and/or you personally. They may also want to get back to the early days of helping grow something from scratch. But you must seek out individuals that will 1) spend the time to help you at the board level, and 2) offer their experience and advise throughout the year, perhaps not even in a board meeting.

Compensation for an advisory board can vary greatly depending on the stage of the entity, the industry and what the individual brings to the table. At a minimum, you should compensate them for each meeting including travel costs, and they usually get some type of stock grant that vests over time. How much you ask? I usually see less than 1% and use an average of a quarter of a percent at most.

Professional advisors are necessary. It’s very important to find a great CPA and lawyer but having an engaged advisory board will also push you to achieve your goals more quickly.

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